Snow came heavy and fast, but several competitions still managed to go on!
Linn-Mar Supernova, Sioux Falls Jefferson Cavalier Classic, Waukee Starstruck – cancelled
Tip your hat to three awesome lineups that never got to see the light of day.
Gretna Primetime Final Results
GC: Lincoln Southwest “Resonance” (BV/BC)
1RU: Millard North “Infinity” (BB)
2RU: Elkhorn South “Blackout”
3RU: Papillion-La Vista “Free Spirit”
4RU: Grand Island “Ultimate Image”
5RU: Elkhorn North “adrENaline”
With many schools not in session for Martin Luther King Day, Gretna was able to save a space that was already set up for show choir and make it happen with a slightly modified lineup. Lincoln Southwest came out swinging with a Chicken Little-themed show, which is another theatrical show after their Wicked show last year. Millard North and Elkhorn South also landed solidly on the podium, which bids well for both programs in their quest for city dominance over two other show choir programs in the respective districts. Coming in fourth was Free Spirit, whose longtime director Tyler Buglewicz left in advance of the season to move to Germany. Previous assistant director Meredith L’Heureux has teamed with former O’Gorman director Lindsey Ussery to move that program forward now. Grand Island comes in ahead of Elkhorn North to round out a pretty stout finals field. In highly competitive undercard competition, Millard North “Illumination” won the womens division and Lincoln Southwest “Ambience” won the prep division.
Onalaska Show Choir Classic Final Results
GC: Bemidji “Vocalmotive” (BC)
1RU: La Crosse Central “Grand Central Station” (BV/BB)
2RU: Logan “The Class Act”
3RU: Holmen “Midwest Express”
4RU: Sparta “Upstage Adrenaline”
5RU: Eau Claire Memorial “Old Abe Show Choir”
The wildcard Comp of the Week wound up being one of only two that actually went on, even if it was greatly slimmed down. While a smaller group in the post-Chris Fettig era, Bemidji won their third straight Onalaska Classic in what has always been their trademark competition. Another midsize group, La Crosse Central, gave them a good run for it, claiming the vocals and band captions and tallying one first-place vote during finals to Bemidji’s four. After barely missing finals at Holmen a week ago, Logan burst onto the scene, with their Alice in Wonderland theme scoring fourth in prelims and third in finals. Holmen was second in prelims but slid to fourth in finals in what is still a markedly better group than the Midwest Express everyone saw last year. Sparta regressed a little from last week, losing to Logan, but is still on pace to grow as a program this year. Eau Claire Memorial is already halfway to the number of finals appearances that it had last year and besides from Bemidji came the farthest distance to compete.
Now for some bonus content! See a full rundown of Beavercreek here. For some wild wildcard comps, here we go:
Blue Valley Tiger Takedown Final Results
GC: Neosho “Choraleers” (BV)
1RU: Webb City “Singers” (BC)
2RU: Carthage “Soundwave”
3RU: Pleasant Hill “Hillside Singers”
4RU: Carthage “Suite Sounds”
5RU: Webb City “Bella Voce”
Five years ago, these results would have looked absolutely insane. A comp in Kansas? Pleasant Hill losing to three other in-state groups? What’s going on? In 2024, these results are absolutely believable. Southwest Missouri looks to be tight at the top again this year, with Neosho gaining a slight edge on Webb City in early-season competition. While two womens groups made finals, they were behind the mixed groups of their respective programs, meaning that at least for right now, Missouri seems to have sorted itself out after some scattered womens upsets in the past few years. A quick shoutout to the mens division as well – while it was a repeat of the mixed results (Neosho over Webb City and Pleasant Hill), it’s still awesome to see three mens groups at a competition outside of California.
Lincoln Links Show Choir Invitational Results
1st: Lincoln East “Express” (BV/BC/BB)
2nd: Grand Island Northwest “14 Karat Gold”
3rd: Hastings “Uncaged”
4th: Skutt Catholic “Vivace”
5th: Bellevue West “West Connection”
Lincoln East was originally scheduled to compete at Ralston and probably would have been right in the thick of things with Papillion-La Vista. Instead, they stay within the district on a Monday and pick up an emphatic sweep to start the Lisabeth Wissink era. It's been hit after hit for East, who lost Brett Epperson to grad school years back and now has lost Zart to Missouri. Grand Island Northwest was looking like one of the favorites beforehand in this competition, and they roll in second. Hastings has experienced solid growth under Christian Yost after the pandemic and is a nice mid-Nebraska choir like Kearney now. In the undercard divisions, Lincoln East took home the win in the womens division and Grand Island Northwest won the prep division.
Check back in later this week for a hopefully non-impacted edition of Comps of the Week!
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